We're told that the Bajorans are all upset at Sisko's "stealing" the ancient stone so that the writings can be translated. When Akorem briefly got the Emissary job in "Accession", he told the Bajorans that most of the population had to change their occupation - and they did so, with barely a mutter of protest, because everybody has to do what the Emissary says. Yet Sisko can't borrow a stone for a few weeks?

Great Moment :

I didn't like this one much, but it's always nice to see Winn on DS9. She's so deliciously nasty.

Body Count :

Zero.

Factoid :

In the original script the battle between the Prophet and the Pah-wraith was far more elaborate. Kai Winn was possessed by the wraith and she and Kira destroyed the entire Promenade and then fought a running battle all over the station, throwing energy bolts at one another. Such a complex shoot would have made the episode extremely difficult to produce, however, as well as being very expensive, so it was greatly cut down.

In the end, the director Jesús Salvador Treviño devised the battle that made it to the final episode. Whilst the battle was well received by viewers, it did look rather silly whilst being filmed since the two actors simply stood there pulling funny faces at one another. Reportedly, both Cirroc Lofton and Nana Visitor repeatedly cracked up laughing during filming of the battle.

After softening Kai Winn's character in the last couple of appearances, the writers chose to shift her back to a much more antagonistic stance in this episode. No in-character reason is given for this shift.

Worf's line "The Prophets are the only thing keeping the Dominion from coming through the wormhole" establishes that the wormhole aliens have continued to deny use of the wormhole to the Dominion, preventing reinforcements from coming through from the Gamma Quadrant - the first time that fact has been established.

Dax tells Sisko that the tablet translates to "The Bajorans will suffer horribly", then adds "...or eat fruit." When we see Kira with Odo at the start of the episode, she is eating a fruit salad.

Plotline

When a Prophet occupies the body of Kira to fight the ultimate battle against evil, Sisko faces an agonizing choice when the Pagh-Wraiths choose his son to be their own vassal.